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A2 AQA A Level Psychology Revision Notes; Research Methods
A3 sized sheet of exam revision for A2 Psychology Exam. Information is broken down into sections, makes the information easier to understand and digest.
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r ExperimentalKey concepts
methods Observation
Observational techniques: A way of seeing or listening to what people do
Types of data
Quantitative and qualitative data
Aim without having to ask them, observation is often used within an experiment as a Quantitative data; numerical data such as rea
• A general expression of what the researcher intends to investigate way of assessing the DV mistakes
• Can capture unexpected behaviour • Easier to analyse
Hypothesis • Risk of observer bias • Oversimplifies behaviour
• A statement of what the researcher believes to be true
• Should be operationalised [clearly defined and measurable] Naturalistic: takes place where the target behaviour would normally occur Qualitative data: non-numerical data expresse
• A directional hypothesis states whether changes are greater or lesser; positive or negative • High external validity extract
• A non-directional hypothesis doesn’t state the direction, just that there is a difference, correlation, • Low control • Represents complexities
association • Less easy to analyse
Controlled: some control/manipulation of variables including control of EV’s
Experimental method • Can be replicated Primary and secondary data, including meta-a
• A researcher causes the independent variable to vary and records the effect in the DV • May have low external validity Primary data: ‘first hand’ data collected for the
• Different levels of the IV • Fits the job
Covert: ppts are unaware they are being studied • Requires time and effort
Research Issues • Demand characteristics reduced
Extraneous and confounding variables • Ethically questionable Secondary data: collected by someone other
• EV’s are ‘nuisance variables’, do not vary systematically with the IV, a researcher may control some of these conducting the research such as taken form jo
• CV’s change systematically with the IV so we cannot be sure if any observed change in the DV due to the Overt: ppts are aware of being studied government records
CV or the IV; CV must be controlled • More ethically acceptable • Inexpensive
Demand characteristics • Demand characteristics • Quality may be poor
• Refers to any cue from the researcher of research situation that may reveal the aim of the study
Participant: when the researcher becomes part of the group they are studying Meta-analysis: a type of secondary data that
Investigator effects • Can lead to greater insight large number of studies. Calculation of effect s
• Any effects of the investigators behaviour on the outcome of the research [DV] • Possible loss of objectivity • Increases validity of conclusions
• Publication bias
Research techniques Non-participant: when the researcher remains separate from the group they
Randomisation: use of chance when designing investigations to control for the effects of bias are studying Measures of central tendency
Standardisation: Using exactly the same formalised procedures for all ppts in the research study • More objective Mean: arithmetic average, add up all the scor
Control groups: used for the purpose of setting a comparison, act as a ‘baseline’ and help establish causation • Loss of insight scores
Single Blind: a ppt doesn’t know the aims of the study so that demand characteristics are reduced • Sensitive
Double blind: both ppt and researcher don’t know the aims of the study to reduce demand characteristics and Observational design • May be unrepresentative
investigator effects Behavioural categories: the target behaviour to be observed should be broken
up into a set of observable categories. This is similar to the idea of Median: middle value, place scores in ascend
Experimental designs operationalisation value. If there are two values in the middle, the
Independent groups • Difficult to make clear and unambiguous • Unaffected by extreme scores
• One group do condition A and a second group do condition B • Dustbin categories • Less sensitive than the mean
• Ppts should be randomly allocated to experimental groups
• No order effects Time sampling: observations are made at regular intervals Mode: most frequent or common value, used w
• Will not guess aim • Reduces the no. of observations • Relevant to categorical data
• Ppt variables • May be unrepresentative • An overly simple measure
• More ppts
Event sampling: a target behaviour/event is recorded every time it occurs Measures of dispersion
Repeated measures • May record infrequent beh. Range: the difference between highest to lowe
• Same ppts take part in all conditions of an experiment • Complex beh. Oversimplified • Easy to calculate
• The order of conditions should be counterbalanced to avoid order effects Sampling • Does not account for the distributio
• Ppt variables Population and sample:
• Fewer ppts • Population: The large group of people that a researcher is interested Standard deviation: measure of the average s
• Order effects are a problem in studying larger the standard deviation, the more spread
• Ppts may guess aim • Sample: it is usually not possible to include all members of the • More precise than the range
population in the study, so a smaller group is selected • It may be misleading
Matched pairs • Generalisation: the sample that is drawn should be representative of
• Two groups of ppts are used but they are also related to each other by being paired on ppt variable(s) that
the population so generalisations can be made
matter for the experiment • Bias: the majority off samples are biased in that certain groups may
• Ppt variables be over – or under-represented Ethical issues and ways of dealing with them
• No order effects Ethical issues:
• Matching is not perfect Opportunity sample: Conflict: when a conflict exists between the rights of ppts and the aims of the
• More ppts • Most available; people who are most available [e.g. nearest/easiest document to protect ppts based on 4 principles; respect, competence, resp
to obtain] Ethics committees weigh up the costs and benefits before deciding whether
Types of experiment • How?; Ask people nearby
Laboratory experiment: A controlled environment where extraneous and confounding • Quick method Informed consent:
variables can be regulated • Get permission
• Inevitably biased [unrepresentative of pop.]
• Ppts go to researcher • Ppts should be able to make an informed judgement about whet
• IV is manipulated and the effect on the DV is recorded • Too much info ma affect ppts beh so alternative forms of consent
Volunteer sample:
• EV’s and CV’s can be controlled 1. Presumptive: ask a similar group
• Self-selecting; ppts select themselves to be a ppt
• Can be easily replicated 2. Prior general: agree to be deceived
• How?; advertise e.g. in a newspaper
• May lack generalisability • Ppts are willing 3. Retrospective: get consent after the study
• Demand characteristics may be a problems • Likely to be a biased sample
Deception
Field experiment: A natural setting
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